Description of Each Execution Method

Lethal Injection

In 1977, Oklahoma became the first state to adopt lethal injec­tion as a means of exe­cu­tion, though it would be five more years until Charles Brooks would become the first per­son exe­cut­ed by lethal injec­tion in Texas on December 2, 1982. Today, every state that has the death penal­ty autho­rizes exe­cu­tion by lethal injec­tion. When this method is used, the con­demned per­son is usu­al­ly bound to a gur­ney and a mem­ber of the exe­cu­tion team posi­tions sev­er­al heart mon­i­tors on this skin. Two nee­dles (one is a back-up) are then insert­ed into usable veins, usu­al­ly in the pris­on­er’s arms. Long tubes con­nect the nee­dle through a hole in a cement block wall to sev­er­al intra­venous drips. The first is a harm­less saline solu­tion that is start­ed imme­di­ate­ly. Then, at the war­den’s sig­nal, a cur­tain is raised expos­ing the pris­on­er to the wit­ness­es in an adjoin­ing room. The process then dif­fers depend­ing upon whether the state uses a sin­gle drug or multi-drug protocol.

In the one-drug exe­cu­tions, the pris­on­er is inject­ed with an over­dose of pen­to­bar­bi­tal. In the mul­ti-drug exe­cu­tions, states start with a seda­tive, pre­vi­ous­ly sodi­um thiopen­tal but more recent­ly drugs such as mida­zo­lam, which is sup­posed to put the pris­on­er to sleep. Next, a par­a­lyt­ic drug, typ­i­cal­ly vecuro­ni­um bro­mide or pan­curo­ni­um bro­mide, is inject­ed, which par­a­lyzes the entire mus­cle sys­tem and stops the pris­on­er’s breath­ing. Finally, the flow of potas­si­um chlo­ride stops the heart. Death results from anes­thet­ic over­dose and res­pi­ra­to­ry and car­diac arrest while the con­demned per­son is uncon­scious. [2][5] Medical ethics pre­clude doc­tors from par­tic­i­pat­ing in exe­cu­tions. However, a doc­tor will cer­ti­fy the pris­on­er is dead. This lack of med­ical par­tic­i­pa­tion can be prob­lem­at­ic because often injec­tions are per­formed by inex­pe­ri­enced tech­ni­cians or order­lies. If a mem­ber of the exe­cu­tion team injects the drugs into a mus­cle instead of a vein, or if the nee­dle becomes clogged, extreme pain can result. Many pris­on­ers have dam­aged veins result­ing from intra­venous drug use and it is some­times dif­fi­cult to find a usable vein, result­ing in long delays while the pris­on­er remains strapped to the gur­ney. [2][5]

Electrocution

Seeking a more humane method of exe­cu­tion than hang­ing, New York built the first elec­tric chair in 1888 and exe­cut­ed William Kemmler in 1890. Soon, oth­er states adopt­ed this exe­cu­tion method. Today, elec­tro­cu­tion is not used as the sole method of exe­cu­tion in any state. Electrocution was the sole method in Nebraska until the State Supreme Court ruled the method uncon­sti­tu­tion­al in February 2008. For exe­cu­tion by the elec­tric chair, the per­son is usu­al­ly shaved and strapped to a chair with belts that cross his chest, groin, legs, and arms. A met­al skull­cap-shaped elec­trode is attached to the scalp and fore­head over a sponge moist­ened with saline. The sponge must not be too wet or the saline short-cir­cuits the elec­tric cur­rent, and not too dry, as it would then have a very high resis­tance. An addi­tion­al elec­trode is moist­ened with con­duc­tive jel­ly (Electro-Creme) and attached to a por­tion of the pris­on­er’s leg that has been shaved to reduce resis­tance to elec­tric­i­ty. The pris­on­er is then blind­fold­ed. [4][5] After the exe­cu­tion team has with­drawn to the obser­va­tion room, the war­den sig­nals the exe­cu­tion­er, who pulls a han­dle to con­nect the pow­er sup­ply. A jolt of between 500 and 2000 volts, which lasts for about 30 sec­onds, is giv­en. The cur­rent surges and is then turned off, at which time the body is seen to relax. The doc­tors wait a few sec­onds for the body to cool down and then check to see if the pris­on­er’s heart is still beat­ing. If it is, anoth­er jolt is applied. This process con­tin­ues until the pris­on­er is dead. The pris­on­er’s hands often grip the chair and there may be vio­lent move­ment of the limbs which can result in dis­lo­ca­tion or frac­tures. The tis­sues swell. Defecation occurs. Steam or smoke ris­es and there is a smell of burn­ing. [4][5] U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan once offered the fol­low­ing descrip­tion of an exe­cu­tion by electric chair:

…the pris­on­er’s eye­balls some­times pop out and rest on [his] cheeks. The pris­on­er often defe­cates, uri­nates, and vom­its blood and drool. The body turns bright red as its tem­per­a­ture ris­es, and the pris­on­er’s flesh swells and his skin stretch­es to the point of break­ing. Sometimes the pris­on­er catch­es fire.…Witnesses hear a loud and sus­tained sound like bacon fry­ing, and the sick­ly sweet smell of burn­ing flesh per­me­ates the cham­ber. [2]

At post­mortem, the body is hot enough to blis­ter if touched, and the autop­sy is delayed while the inter­nal organs cool. There are third degree burns with black­en­ing where the elec­trodes met the skin of the scalp and legs. According to Robert H. Kirschner, the deputy chief med­ical exam­in­er of Cook County, ​“The brain appears cooked in most cas­es.” [5]
 

Gas Chamber

In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was intro­duced as Nevada sought a more humane way of exe­cut­ing its con­demned pris­on­ers. Gee Jon was the first per­son exe­cut­ed by lethal gas. The state tried to pump cyanide gas into Jon’s cell while he slept. This proved impos­si­ble because the gas leaked from his cell, so the gas cham­ber was con­struct­ed. [1] Today, five states autho­rize lethal gas as a method of exe­cu­tion, but all have lethal injec­tion as an alter­na­tive method. A fed­er­al court in California found this method to be cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. For exe­cu­tion by this method, the con­demned per­son is strapped to a chair in an air­tight cham­ber. Below the chair rests a pail of sul­fu­ric acid. A long stetho­scope is typ­i­cal­ly affixed to the pris­on­er so that a doc­tor out­side the cham­ber can pro­nounce death. Once every­one has left the cham­ber, the room is sealed. The war­den then gives a sig­nal to the exe­cu­tion­er who flicks a lever that releas­es crys­tals of sodi­um cyanide into the pail. This caus­es a chem­i­cal reac­tion that releas­es hydro­gen cyanide gas. [5] The pris­on­er is instruct­ed to breathe deeply to speed up the process. Most pris­on­ers, how­ev­er, try to hold their breath, and some struggle.

The pris­on­er does not lose con­scious­ness imme­di­ate­ly. According to for­mer San Quenton, California, Penitentiary war­den, Clifton Duffy, ​“At first there is evi­dence of extreme hor­ror, pain, and stran­gling. The eyes pop. The skin turns pur­ple and the vic­tim begins to drool.” [5] Caryl Chessman, before he died in California’s gas cham­ber in 1960 told reporters that he would nod his head if it hurt. Witnesses said he nod­ded his head for sev­er­al min­utes. [2] According to Dr. Richard Traystman of John Hopkins University School of Medicine, ​“The per­son is unques­tion­ably expe­ri­enc­ing pain and extreme anxiety…The sen­sa­tion is sim­i­lar to the pain felt by a per­son dur­ing a heart attack, where essen­tial­ly the heart is being deprived of oxy­gen.” The pris­on­er dies from hypox­ia, the cut­ting-off of oxy­gen to the brain. [5] At post­mortem, an exhaust fan sucks the poi­son air out of the cham­ber, and the corpse is sprayed with ammo­nia to neu­tral­ize any remain­ing traces of cyanide. About a half an hour lat­er, order­lies enter the cham­ber, wear­ing gas masks and rub­ber gloves. Their train­ing man­u­al advis­es them to ruf­fle the vic­tim’s hair to release any trapped cyanide gas before remov­ing the deceased. [5]

As of April 17, 2015, Oklahoma intro­duced death by nitro­gen gas as an alter­na­tive to lethal injec­tion if the nec­es­sary drugs can­not be found or if that method is found uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. In 2018, Alabama leg­is­la­tors autho­rized the use of nitro­gen gas in exe­cu­tions and offi­cials began work­ing on an exe­cu­tion pro­to­col. Execution by ​“nitro­gen hypox­ia” results in death by suf­fo­ca­tion as a result of the indi­vid­ual being forced to breathe pure nitro­gen, depriv­ing the brain and body of oxy­gen. [6] While nitro­gen accounts for near­ly 78% of the air humans breathe, when inhaled on its own, nitro­gen is dead­ly. According to Alabama’s heav­i­ly redact­ed nitro­gen hypox­ia pro­to­col, mem­bers of the exe­cu­tion team are to place a mask over the prisoner’s face, through which nitro­gen gas will be pumped, depriv­ing the pris­on­er of oxy­gen and caus­ing his death.

On January 25, 2024, Alabama exe­cut­ed Kenneth Smith using this method, the first exe­cu­tion of this kind in American his­to­ry. Though the Alabama Attorney General assured courts that nitro­gen hypox­ia would result in ​“uncon­scious­ness in sec­onds,” media wit­ness­es and oth­ers report­ed that Mr. Smith appeared awake for sev­er­al min­utes after the flow of nitro­gen gas began. [6] Some wit­ness­es report­ed that Mr. Smith ​“shook and writhed” for at least four min­utes before breath­ing heav­i­ly for anoth­er few min­utes. Department of Corrections Commissioner John Hamm said that the nitro­gen gas flowed for approx­i­mate­ly 15 min­utes and Mr. Smith was pro­nounced dead 32 min­utes after the cur­tains opened in the execution chamber.

In April 2024, the Louisiana leg­is­la­tor passed leg­is­la­tion autho­riz­ing the use of nitro­gen gas as a method of exe­cu­tion. Similar leg­is­la­tion intro­duced in Ohio in January 2024 is still pend­ing in committee.

Firing Squad

On March 23, 2015, fir­ing squad was reau­tho­rized in Utah as a viable method of exe­cu­tion if, and only if the state was unable to obtain the drugs nec­es­sary to car­ry out a lethal injec­tion exe­cu­tion. Prior to this reau­tho­riza­tion, fir­ing squad was only a method of exe­cu­tion in Utah if cho­sen by the pris­on­er before lethal injec­tion became the sole means of exe­cu­tion. Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina sub­se­quent­ly autho­rized fir­ing squad as an alter­na­tive method of execution.

The most recent exe­cu­tion by this method was that of Ronnie Gardner. By his own choos­ing, Gardner was exe­cut­ed by fir­ing squad in Utah on June 17, 2010. For exe­cu­tion by this method, the pris­on­er is typ­i­cal­ly bound to a chair with leather straps across his waist and head, in front of an oval-shaped can­vas wall. The chair is sur­round­ed by sand­bags to absorb the pris­on­er’s blood. A black hood is pulled over the pris­on­er’s head. A doc­tor locates the pris­on­er’s heart with a stetho­scope and pins a cir­cu­lar white cloth tar­get over it. Standing in an enclo­sure 20 feet away, five shoot­ers are armed with .30 cal­iber rifles loaded with sin­gle rounds. One of the shoot­ers is giv­en blank rounds. South Carolina’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col calls for the use of three shoot­ers, each of whom is pro­vid­ed live rounds. Each of the shoot­ers aims his rifle through a slot in the can­vas and fires at the pris­on­er. [5] The pris­on­er dies as a result of blood loss caused by rup­ture of the heart or a large blood ves­sel, or tear­ing of the lungs. The per­son shot los­es con­scious­ness when shock caus­es a fall in the sup­ply of blood to the brain. If the shoot­ers miss the heart, by acci­dent or inten­tion, the pris­on­er bleeds to death slow­ly. [4][5]

Hanging

Until the 1890s, hang­ing was the pri­ma­ry method of exe­cu­tion used in the United States. Hanging was still autho­rized in Delaware and Washington before those states abol­ished the death penal­ty in 2016 and 2018, although both had lethal injec­tion as an alter­na­tive method of execution.

For exe­cu­tion by hang­ing, the pris­on­er may be weighed the day before the exe­cu­tion, and a rehearsal is done using a sand­bag of the same weight as the pris­on­er. This is to deter­mine the length of ​‘drop’ nec­es­sary to ensure a quick death. If the rope is too long, the pris­on­er could be decap­i­tat­ed, and if it is too short, the stran­gu­la­tion could take as long as 45 min­utes. The rope, which should be 3/​4‑inch to 1 1/​4‑inch in diam­e­ter, must be boiled and stretched to elim­i­nate spring or coil­ing. The knot should be lubri­cat­ed with wax or soap ​“to ensure a smooth slid­ing action,” accord­ing to the 1969 U.S. Army man­u­al. [3][4]

Immediately before the exe­cu­tion, the pris­on­er’s hands and legs are secured, he or she is blind­fold­ed, and the noose is placed around the neck, with the knot behind the left ear. The exe­cu­tion takes place when a trap-door is opened and the pris­on­er falls through. The pris­on­er’s weight should cause a rapid frac­ture-dis­lo­ca­tion of the neck. However, instan­ta­neous death rarely occurs. [5]

If the pris­on­er has strong neck mus­cles, is very light, if the ​‘drop’ is too short, or the noose has been wrong­ly posi­tioned, the frac­ture-dis­lo­ca­tion is not rapid and death results from slow asphyx­i­a­tion. If this occurs the face becomes engorged, the tongue pro­trudes, the eyes pop, the body defe­cates, and vio­lent move­ments of the limbs occur. [3][5]